Snowstorm sweeps into Maine, blizzard on tap

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -Governor LePage has signed a limited Emergency Declaration. This allows the state to waive Federal Department of Transportation rules and extends the hours of service for workers, and also let crews from Canada come into state to help with potential outages.

The Governor also closed state offices at 3pm. The snowstorm has already dumped half-a-foot of snow around Portland and contributed to a 19-car pileup sweeps through the state.

Chris Legrow from the National Weather Service says a blizzard warning is issued Friday evening for the southern coast, when the main storm arrives. The forecast calls for up to 2 feet of snow and winds gusting to 50 mph.

LePage said state offices were closing at 3 p.m.

Snow was being blamed for a morning pileup involving 19 cars on I-295 in Cumberland.

State police spokesman Steve McCausland says it was caused when a car spun out, causing a six-car pileup. Eventually, another 13 vehicles crashed into each other. One person suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

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